A large number of connections between devices, such as telephone calls, are now being carried via packet-switched networks. IP networks have evolved to allow users to send voice and data, including telephone calls, through packet-switched networks, such as the Internet, instead of through older networks like the PSTN. Accordingly, networks often utilize the Internet Protocol (IP), which is the basic transmission protocol used for Internet communications, to form these connections. For carriers to provide service to subscribers by using IP networks, however, it is necessary for networks to interconnect so that their subscribers can connect to each other.
Providing such interconnection generally involves a mechanism by which calls that are intended for disparate networks are sent through egress routing nodes of one network to gateway nodes of other networks. To the extent that one of the available networks recognizes that the destination device resides on it, the network will take steps to route the call to the destination device.
A problem exists, however, in that neither the originating network nor the recipient networks have insight into the eventual call path. When the originating network detects initiation of call intended for a device on another network, it does not necessarily know the identity or the routing information of the recipient device. Accordingly, it must send call information to available networks and rely on the intended recipient network to take steps to complete the call. Similarly, the recipient network has no idea when or if a particular call initiated on another network will be intended for it. Accordingly, it must “listen” for all calls initiated by all available networks to insure that it does not miss a call that may be intended for a subscriber. This approach is costly because it expends system resources on the originating side by sending call requests to available networks regardless of whether all such networks are actually recipients and expends resources on the recipient side by requiring the monitoring of call requests by networks that are not intended recipients. Therefore, what is needed is an approach for efficient use of system resources while providing IP carrier interconnection.